The process of content analysis

To do a content analysis of your site, start with a content inventory to figure out what your web content currently looks like. The easiest way to do this is to use a simple spreadsheet that looks like this:

Go through every single page on your website and record what you find using the above format. Be sure to make careful notes and to add more columns as needed.

Keep in mind too that content is not only text but also video, photo images, audio, infographics and everything else that lives in your website. (For tips on creating more informative content audits, take a look at this article by Ahava Leibtag.)

Dedicated oversight

Once you have performed your content inventory, you’ll have all the information you need to manage your site accordingly.

Unfortunately, when your main focus is to consistently create content that engages your audience, it is an enormous task to go back and evaluate what was created in the past to ensure that it is still relevant to your audience.

But as Arnie Kuenn says in his book, Accelerate, “Responsible content delivery includes dedicated oversight.” It is very important to have high content quality on your website, not only to optimize user experience but also to ensure that your brand is consistently held in high regard.

The last thing you want is for your credibility to be undermined simply because a user came across a broken link on your site. So if it means hiring someone to perform content maintenance, or having to take the time to do it yourself, make sure that your site receives dedicated oversight.

Quick takeaway

Of all the things that will impact user experience on your website, content is the most important factor. Make sure that it is always updated, organized, and relevant. Yes, it’s a lot of hard work, and the more content you generate the more content you will need to maintain. But the quality of your content is not something that you want to compromise.

Over to you: How much effort will you make to maintain your web content this year?

Author: Patricia Redsicker

Patricia Redsicker is a content marketing expert from Baltimore MD. As owner and senior marketing writer at WordView Editing Patricia works with healthcare organizations to develop content strategies that attract and retain customers. Her blog provides content marketing insights to aspiring bloggers and healthcare marketers. You may follow her on Twitter at @predsicker.

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Great post, Patricia. Love your point that great content is the number one factor affecting customer engagement. If your content isn’t directly relevant, then you’ll no doubt see lots of bounces and lost conversions.

I recently took over the reigns for a couple of sites (inter/intranet) for a 26 service line health system. The sites are gargantuan, plus – we’re currently switching to a new CMS, which means lots of migrated and possibly lost content. It’s a bit scary at times.

We’re doing some QA along the way, but my plan is to do a heavy audit once a quarter until I start to come up empty handed on issues like broken links, etc. Then I might back off to every 6 months.

We’re also working to put workflow in place with service line and support teams that will clear the plates of the web team…which is, uh, me 😉

Always good stuff Patricia. Really good.

davemhuffman.com

predsicker

Seems like you’re going to be busy for a while Dave. What is your approach to the audit? Are you using simple spread sheets like I discussed in the article or do you have a more sophisticated approach? Would love to hear more about your strategy. Let’s talk!

http://In-The-Flow.com Jim Campbell

Speaking of great content. This is one of the best articles I’ve read about anything in a long time. You totally nailed it!!

predsicker

Thanks so much Jim – that’s very nice to hear!

http://In-The-Flow.com Jim Campbell

Content is key and misunderstood at the same time. Please stay after that and the Internet will keep getting better, in large part, because of you.

Perfect timing.. Currently doing a site rehal now..thanks.
Quick question..which service do u use to c how viewers are best interacting on the page/post?
I find the GA flow charts rather confusing
Ideally a heat map type structure would work well. I use this for home page but 100s of posts/ pages I’m not aware this is possible
Thanks